1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a droplet discharging head, droplet discharging device, and manufacturing method of a microarray.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a method of detecting and measuring a target substance in a sample with a so-called microarray immobilized on a substrate with biological molecules such as nucleic acid, protein or cells as the probe, and utilizing the specificity of bonding between the biological molecules is being widely used.
JP-A-11-187900 discloses a method for spotting a probe onto a solid phase including the steps of discharging liquid containing a probe, which is capable of specifically bonding with a target substance, to a solid phase surface with an inkjet method, and adhering the probe to the solid phase surface.
With this kind of microarray, since the target substance is detected with a high throughput, it is necessary to fix various types of probe molecules to a minute area. JP-A-2004-160904 discloses an inkjet head including a first substrate having a plurality of liquid retention units, a second substrate having a plurality of channels independently in communication with the plurality of liquid retention units, and one or more head chips having a plurality of nozzles that discharges droplets and which is independently in communication with the plurality of channels. According to this configuration, since the liquid retention units containing a plurality of samples and the plurality of nozzles corresponding to the spotting position of the microarray to be manufactured are in communication via the channels, it is possible to manufacture, at high speed, microarrays in which numerous probes are fixed to a minute area.